Movies like On a Wing and a Prayer (2023)
The best movies like On a Wing and a Prayer (2023) are People Like Us (2012), The High and the Mighty (1954) and Homestead (2024). If On a Wing and a Prayer hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCitizen Kane (1941)8.0/10 from 6,344 votes
- NewestBaby Udon (2026)Released 2026
People Like Us (2012)
After flying home to L.A. for the funeral of his estranged record-producer father, a struggling man discovers that the will stipulates that he must deliver $150,000 in cash to a 30-year-old alcoholic sister he never knew existed, and her troubled 12-year-old son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe High and the Mighty (1954)
Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight that takes a terrifying turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean after the point of no return.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHomestead (2024)
A nuclear bomb is detonated in Los Angeles, and the nation devolves into unprecedented chaos. Ex-Green Beret Jeff Eriksson and his family escape to The Homestead, an eccentric prepper’s fortress nestled in the mountains. As violent threats and apocalyptic conditions creep toward their borders, the residents of The Homestead are left to wonder: how long can a group of people resist both the dangers of human nature and the bloodshed at their doorstep?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018)
Pastor Dave responds to the unimaginable tragedy of having his church, located on the grounds of the local university, burned down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSully (2016)
On 15 January 2009, the world witnessed the 'Miracle on the Hudson' when Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger glided his disabled plane onto the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 souls aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFearless (1993)
After surviving a plane crash that kills many others, Max Klein develops a sense of invulnerability, leading to radical, compulsive actions. Can a psychologist and a fellow guilt-ridden survivor bring him down to earth?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeltdown: Days of Destruction (2006)
Despite scientist Nathan's warnings, his boss continues an experiment meant as publicity for his satellite firm: exploding an asteroid. Instead it splits, and the major piece, the size of Iceland, changes course to earth. It is deflected but so close that it shift our course closer to the sun, causing rapid extreme heating, hopefully only mid-term. Nathan warns his sister, TV journalist Carly, and she her lover, police detective Tom. He brings his unruly daughter Kim, her ex-con lover C.J. and her mother, nurse Bonnie, when Nathan offers a flight to a friend's Arctic weather station. Tom takes charge of a dangerous trip to the airport, as everywhere on earth things catch fire and people fight for water, transport and sheer looting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Question of Faith (2017)
When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Aviator (2004)
A biopic depicting the life of filmmaker and aviation pioneer Howard Hughes from 1927 to 1947, during which time he became a successful film producer and an aviation magnate, while simultaneously growing more unstable due to severe obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Shepherd (2023)
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Call of the Wild (1972)
John Thornton, is a fearless man who's after more than gold; he wants to do what's right. Thornton works for the U.S. mail and is the only person daring and smart enough to figure out how to travel the deadly 600 miles from Skagway to Dawson, Alaska in the icy winter. His incredibly dog Buck is by his side and part of how he survives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDevotion (2022)
The harrowing true story of two elite US Navy fighter pilots during the Korean War. Their heroic sacrifices would ultimately make them the Navy's most celebrated wingmen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlight of the Phoenix (2004)
When an oil rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia proves unproductive, an aircraft crew are sent to shut the operation down and fly them out. On the flight out over the desert on the way to Beijing, Capt. Frank Towns and co-pilot A.J. are unable to keep their cargo plane, a C-119 Flying Boxcar, in the air when a violent sandstorm strikes. Crash-landing in a remote uncharted part of the desert, the two pilots and their passengers -- a crew of oil workers and a drifter -- must work together to survive by rebuilding the aircraft. Soon, low supplies and a band of merciless smugglers add even greater urgency to their task.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkyjacked (1972)
A crazed Vietnam vet bomber hijacks a Boeing 707 and demands to be taken to Russia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Bother to Knock (1952)
An airline pilot pursues a live-in babysitter at his hotel and gradually realizes she is not as stable as perhaps she should be.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Secret Life of Bees (2008)
Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCitizen Kane (1941)
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHoly Lands (2019)
When lapsed Jew and former cardiologist Harry suddenly decides to spend his retirement as a pig farmer in Nazareth, Israel, the move deeply shocks his family and his new neighbours. Back in New York, Harry’s ex-wife Monica is trying to manage the lives of their adult children, Annabelle and David, as well as her own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ceiling (2018)
On the brink of divorce a middle aged man, Olavi, retreats to his cabin by the lake. After a few days he finds that the ceiling has come down making him unable to stand up straight. His friend Tuomas arrives and insists that something has to be done whereas Olavi is content with the limited space.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Girl with the Needle (2024)
Struggling to survive in post-WWI Copenhagen, a newly unemployed and pregnant young woman is taken in by a charismatic elder to help run an underground adoption agency. The two form an unexpected bond, until a sudden discovery changes everything.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBack for Good (2017)
An actress confronts her quarter-life crisis by breaking up with New York City and returning home to win back the love of her life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Baby Udon (2026)
Fanny Kondoh, a young Indonesian woman, falls in love with Hajime Kondoh, a Japanese man who comes to Indonesia for work. After getting married, Fanny and Hajime begin building a life together, embracing both its joys and challenges. As they struggle to fulfill their dream of having a child, they are faced with one heartbreaking trial after another, testing the strength of their love, especially when Hajime is diagnosed with cancer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vaibhavam (2025)
Vaibhav, a righteous young man with entrepreneurial dreams, finds himself entwined in a profound mosaic of love, family, and friendships.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
After the Wedding (2006)
A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-altering family secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl, Interrupted (1999)
Set in the changing world of the late 1960s, Susanna Kaysen's prescribed "short rest" from a psychiatrist she had met only once becomes a strange, unknown journey into Alice's Wonderland, where she struggles with the thin line between normal and crazy. Susanna soon realizes how hard it is to get out once she has been committed, and she ultimately has to choose between the world of people who belong inside or the difficult world of reality outside.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlow (2001)
The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreach (2007)
Eric O'Neill, a low-level surveillance expert with the FBI, believes he is accomplishing his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent, with his unexpected promotion and assignment to clerk for Robert Hanssen, a renowned senior agent with 25 years in the FBI. However, he soon learns the reason for his promotion is to gain Hanssen's trust and find proof that he is a traitor to the country. Determined to draw the suspected double-agent out of deep cover, O'Neill finds himself in a lethal game of spy vs. spy, where nothing is as it seems.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBloody Sunday (2002)
The dramatised story of the Irish civil rights protest march on January 30 1972 which ended in a massacre by British troops.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like On a Wing and a Prayer and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like On a Wing and a Prayer?
The closest matches to On a Wing and a Prayer are People Like Us (2012), The High and the Mighty (1954) and Homestead (2024). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after On a Wing and a Prayer?
Start with People Like Us (2012), the closest match to On a Wing and a Prayer.
What is the highest-rated movie like On a Wing and a Prayer?
Citizen Kane (1941), rated 8.0/10 by 6,344 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like On a Wing and a Prayer?
Baby Udon (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like On a Wing and a Prayer?
Yes: People Like Us (2012), The High and the Mighty (1954) and Homestead (2024).
How are movies similar to On a Wing and a Prayer chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside On a Wing and a Prayer, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.